Shoots down idea by Sydney Anglican Archbishop to create special new diocese for hardliners

The Anglican Church in New Zealand has rejected a proposal by the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney to create an overlapping diocese for parishioners who oppose same-sex marriages, after Australia legalized such unions in December 2017.

The Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia (ANZP) published its official response to Anglican Archbishop Glenn Davies’ suggestion on Nov. 13.

It thanked the prelate for his consideration but stressed that the Church had arrived in the region riding a wave of colonization, and had already alienated many local people due to a lack of compassion and cultural understanding when dealing with people with different values and experiences.

“To be Anglican in this land requires that we, led by our Lord Jesus Christ, face into this shared history so that we can help shape a common future for all our people based on peace and justice and righteousness,” read the letter co-authored by ANZP Archbishops Don Tamihere and Philip Richardson.

“Our General Synod resolution on the blessing of same-sex civil marriages cannot be divorced from this shared history – it was a cross-tikanga [Maori] resolution, decades in the making,” they wrote.

At its Synod in May, the ANZP passed a resolution designed to appeal to people of both camps. But many Anglicans have called it unsatisfactory and said they plan to leave the church, anglicannews.org reported on Nov. 13.

Despite this the ANZP said it could not agree with Davies’ proposal, first made in August, to establish an alternative diocese or province that could “distinctively coexist” with the Church’s existing structures but adopt a more hardline stance on LGBT rights.

“While members of your General Synod may have thought that dissenting voices would acquiesce to the amended canons, this has proved not to be the case,” the Sydney Anglican Archbishop wrote in a letter to the ANZP.

“The proposition that same-sex relationships are a legitimate expression of Christian discipleship is something that will never be accepted by a large number of Anglicans throughout the world,” he wrote.

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